DRUGS/PHARMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump, after a week devoted to criticizing the Mueller report and investigations by congressional Democrats, turned on Wednesday [4-24-19] to a policy matter, vowing to ‘smash the grip of addiction’ caused by the opioid epidemic. Addressing a conference of health professionals and addiction specialists in Atlanta, Mr. Trump promised to provide more funding for treatment, stronger scrutiny of what he called Big Pharma and tougher interdiction of drugs at the border with Mexico…Many leading authorities on the opioid crisis have been highly critical of the federal government’s response as far too slow and inadequately funded, starting with the Obama administration, but say there has been some improvement under Mr. Trump. Andrew Kolodny, a physician and a director of opioid policy research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis, said Mr. Trump deserved credit for focusing on the problem, and for delivering more funding than President Barack Obama did.”
–Michael Tackett and Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Declares Commitment to Ending Opioid Crisis ‘Once and for All’,” The New York Times online, April 24, 2019